That's why I wanted to
set it up so that you have even a better emotional YES when I say that he has a
baptismal date! But it really is a sad story.

We met with him on
Tuesday night. He came with us and we taught him the 1st lesson. For those who
know, the 1st lesson's 1st point it "God is our Loving HEavenly Father".
We talked to him about his family, and asked him if he had one.

He said no.

He told us about how he'd
lost a lot of his Dad's money, so he'd been abandoned by them. Lost, scarred,
and alone, he was wandering the streets of Niigata (my area) probably wondering
if he had any worth; probably praying in his soul, without consciously knowing
how, that he could experience the feeling of the prodigal son (like his email
adress title) and return home, loved and secured.

That was when an awkward,
bumbling foreigner that couldn't speak Japanese very well stopped him asking in
chopped up Japanese if he was ok. Surprised, but still utterly hopeless, he
responded, "no. I'm not." This awkward foreigner said something about
religion and some sort of free class, but said to ignore that. The stranger
gave a flyer with a phone number and a map to a church. He then ordered, quite
impolitley, "Give me your number. I call later."

This hopeless young man,
abandoned by family and aching for anything, gave out his number.

4 days later, he sat,
learning about a boy called Joseph Smith, who had read the bible. This
abandoned young man said that he, too, had read all of the New Testament in his
life. Then, two strange foreigners and one stranger from Japan asked this poor
young man if he would consider following Jesus Christ, and be accepted into His
church.

Takumi said yes. And
since Tuesday, he has become so much happier. He reads the Book of Mormon
daily, and has read up to 2nd Nephi 9 (this was on Friday. I don't know how far
he is now).

But, he's 19. In Japan,
you can't get baptized without parental permission before the age of 20.

WHat do we do?

We had a member-present
lesson with our Mission President this Saturday. In in, President Budge asked
how old Takumi was, ready to break bad news.

Takumi said, "I turn
20 November 13th."

His baptismal date is on
the 16th of November.

God is preparing people.
This is my burning testimony. "Shall we not go on in so great a
cause?" Every member a missionary, eh? Let's do this.

Hello,
everybody! How was conference? Is everyone happy? Does everyone have
their Articles of Faith memorized? Is everyone doing missionary work? :D

Anyway,
I had a miracle happen the other day. I was doing the flyer proselyting
when this guy walked past. He looked rushed; sad; hurt; broken; off;
something. I dunno how to exactly describe it. But immediately, I felt
an overpowering and overwhelming love for him. I stopped him, and in
broken Japanese asked him if he was ok. He said, "No, not really." I
asked if there was anything I could help him with. "I'm going to work
right now. I'm a bit busy." I said, "Give me your number. I will call
and check on you tonight."

Yeah. Not the most smooth approach to someone. But hey,
I haven't tried asking ANYONE for their number since probably January
at BYU or so, and it didn't go much better.

But he
gave me his number. I was honestly surprised. But I called that night,
but he was at work. I called the next day, but he had work. I emailed
him, "Hey, I just wanted to tell you about how prayer lets us get help
from God."

It was at this point, with that much interaction and
conversation between us, that he sends me an email saying, "Yestarday,
I'm in sevent heaven. coz I'm abandon all hope, I was saved thanks to
you. I wanna learn mormon. My dream is to travel the world. Is it
possible for mormon to make my dream come true?" (word for word in
english.

:D Not only that is possible, but so much more, my friend.

His
name is Takumi. And he is just one of many people being prepared by
Heavenly Father to receive the gospel. So let's all do missionary work
together, eh? :D

Hello! How are you all
doing? I'd wish you to be as happy as me, but I know that's impossible. Sorry!
haha :D

So. Miracles. They are
everywhere. Before we left for Japan from the MTC, someone said a quote,
"Thank the Lord at the end of the day for miracles you didn't see." I
thought this was amazing. But I realized something new while in the field:
"Thank the Lord for miracles you take for granted." This is how I
came to that thought.

This Thursday, my
trainers left for a conference. So it was me and another 3rd week missionary
doing our very best to serve the Lord. Let me tell you: Our best isn't very
good. Hard things happened, and one of our progressing investigators actually
came to church and returned all of his materials. He'd been offended by
something dumb, and used it as an excuse to cop out. I was lost and worried.
The next day, as we woke up at 6 to work out with another Prog. Inv. I didn't
want to go. I was tired; I was sore; I was scared. Yes. I confess that my heart
was failing me. I didn't understand why I was out without trainers; why I was
trying so hard, only to fail repeatedly. I had seen very little success in my
weeks here. The rational part of my brain said, "Oi. You've been here for
3 weeks." But my emotional side was reigning. I was aching, uncertain of
my own capacities to serve the Lord. I didn't doubt Him whatsoever. Never have,
probably never will.

But I doubted myself.

After the work out, we came back and got ready for an exchange. While my
companion was in the shower, I knelt down and prayed. I pleaded with Heavenly
Father to change me to be something He could utilize. Then, I turned on Elder
Holland's talk, "Lord, I believe". I was uplifted and strengthened.
From that point, whenever I doubted myself, I fell on my faith first. I'd pray
by starting with, "Heavenly Father, I know you to be the one who called
me." And this would put things in perspective. I began to work more
faithfully. Not harder; not longer. But I began to believe I
could succeed. And I did.

Saturday, I was working
hard at finding. My 4 man companionship was on 4 corners right in front of the
train statioin, and we were talking to everyone. I ran into a kid called
Kazuhiro. He is 17, and he listened. I told him that I speak WITH God every day.
I told him that God is our Heavenly Father, who wants us to be happy. I told
him that in order to talk to us, Heavenly Father uses Prophets. I told him
about the 1st vision and the restoration. I gave him a book of mormon, and
testified of it's truthfulness. I set up an appointment. And I felt wonderful
afterwards.

My companions
congratulated me afterwards for doing it by myself. But I squirmed at the
compliment. I didn't do it by myself. THat was ALL Heavenly Father. Without
Him, Kazuhiro wouldn't have been there. Without Him, I wouldn't have been
there. Without Him, I wouldn't have been on a mission. Without Him, I wouldn't
have had faith. Without Him, this world wouldn't exist. Without Him, I wouldn't
exist. I began to thank the Lord for one of my greatest miracles I have
always taken for granted: Me.

I encourage you all to do
the same. Take a moment; think of who you are; find the Hand of the Lord that
IS your life. Thank Him. Serve Him. There is NOTHING that brings more joy than
that.